Odd behavior with K8V SE Deluxe and Internet Explorer

[Steve Birch]

Hi Folks,
I have noticed an odd thing with my new system based on the K8V SE.
Sometimes, if I use Internet Explorer 6 with a web page that uses either the
Acrobat or Sun Java plugins, the IE process does not properly terminate when
I stop using it. This leaves "iexplore.exe" and (typically) "acroread" still
in memory, which is not noticed until I try to shut down, when XP complains
that the iexplore process is "not responding".
The applications actually work fine, it's just that using them sometimes
seems to upset IE upon exit. If I kill the IE process using task manager,
then the "acroread" process will automatically close as well. Different
versions of acrobat and Java make no difference so it does look like IE is
responsible. The event log doesn't record anything interesting.

- Has anyone else seen this problem or can suggest a fix ?
- Could this be a hardware issue ? I'm suspecting not, because everything
else seems to work perfectly.

I know that a similar problem can happen when there is spyware on the
system, and I am confident that this is NOT the case in this instance. The
system is using XP Pro SP1 with all latest patches, Norton antivirus 2003.
It's all been re-installed once and the problem remains.
Any advice much appreciated!

- Steve

 

[Tim]

Steve,

The adobe acrobat reader seems to install itself as a 'server' application
when it is fired up by IE. That is, when you cease viewing the current
document, adobe decides itself to stay in memory in-case you select a
subsequent document to view. This may simply be coincidental with your IE
problem.

When an application runs as a COM server like that it is normal for the
program to sit in memory idle until a certain amount of time has elapsed and
then decide to quietly exit if there is not more activity.

This will have nothing to do with your K8V. If you feel like downloading yet
another 30+ MB update for Adobe you might find it gets fixed.

- Tim

 

[Steve Birch]

Hi Tim,
Thanks for your comments.
I did try Adobe 6, which seemed to have other bugs and still causes the IE
problem! Other people suggested that 5 was more stable so I went back to
that.
You're right, acroread does tend to stay in memory for some random time,
then quietly close itself. I've observed this.
The fact that I seemed to get problems when using Acrobat OR Sun Java
suggested to me that it was more of a Internet Explorer issue. If I use
neither plugin during an IE session, the "IE process dead in memory" problem
never seems to happen when I exit.
I guess I will have to live with it for now!

Regards,
- Steve